Ethnic differences in integration levels and return migration intentions

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUNDImmigrants' desire to stay in the host country or return to the country of origin depends largely on the balance between their degree of integration in the host country and their level of attachment to the country of origin. Ethnic diversity is growing rapidly in European countries, including in migrant-sending countries. It may be expected that members of the ethnic minority population and the majority population have different degrees of willingness to engage in return migration depending on their different levels of attachment to their country of origin.OBJECTIVEThis study examines differences in the return migration intentions of members of the ethnic minority population and members of the majority population in the sending country. Specifically, we seek to answer two main research questions: (1) To what extent do members of the sending country's ethnic minority and majority groups differ in their desire to return to the sending country? (2) How does the degree of integration in the host country shape differences in the return migration intentions of members of the sending country's ethnic minority and majority groups?METHODSWe use representative survey data on Estonian migrants in Finland and apply binary logistic regression on our data.RESULTSResults suggest that there are important differences in the integration levels and in the return migration intentions of the ethnic Estonians and the ethnic Russians from Estonia living in Finland. Despite being much better integrated into Finnish society than ethnic Russians, the ethnic Estonians are much more likely to want to return to Estonia. Indeed, our study shows that ethnicity is one of the most important personal characteristics predicting return migration.CONCLUSIONSThere is no obvious negative relationship between integration and return migration. Being a member of the sending country majority population is associated with a stronger intention to return, even when the migrant is well integrated into the new homeland.1. IntroductionMigration from eastern to western Europe has led to a considerable loss of population in some eastern European countries over the past two decades (Apsite 2013; Anniste et al. 2012; Kahanec 2012). As Ivlevs and King (2012) have noted, many eastern European countries that won independence at the beginning of the 1990s have since lost a share of their people. Furthermore, since the individuals who leave the new member states of the European Union (EU) are more likely to be highly educated than those who stay, the discussions on east-west migration in Europe tend to revolve around the issues of brain drain, brain gain, and brain waste (Kahanec et al. 2010; Olofsson and Malmberg 2011; Olofsson 2012). The grim reality of high emigration rates can, however, be relieved by return migration, ultimately leading to a brain gain for the sending countries rather than for the receiving countries3 (Mayr and Peri 2009). This paper brings the ethnic dimension-i.e., being a member of a majority population or a minority population of the sending country-into the discussion on return migration. At the broadest level, the decision to stay or return depends on the balance between an immigrant's degree of integration in the host country and the strength of his or her attachment and ties to the country of origin. While there are studies on the onward migration of immigrants from one EU member state to another (e.g., Aptekar 2009; Nekby 2006), there are almost no studies on the extent to which members of minority ethnic groups and members of the majority population of the sending countries differ in their desire to return to the sending country. This trend is, however, a new and very interesting layer in the European migration system that is emerging in the context of the free labour movement framework and the increased ethnic diversity in the EU. For onward migrants, their new homeland is a third country because the country of origin is not their historical homeland4. …